Spring into AI Competition: Rules
Invitation only-but you can play along, too.
INVITE ONLY COMPETITORS: Please subscribe to this substack so i have an easy way to share your updates and provide general updates about the competition. It’s a small group, I know, but it’ll give you one place to make sense of it all.
Everyone else: If you aren’t competing and just want to see what we come up with, please feel free to follow along. I will focus on signal > noise for the updates on this competition.
What is this?
Welcome to the AI Build Sprint — a 5-week, ship-every-week competition focused on building real things, sharing what you learn, and stacking reps. The point here is to get embarrassed, put yourself ONLINE, and realize we’re all figuring this out in realtime.
Below are the “official rules”. They’re simple on purpose: build → publish → score → repeat.
I’ll be using an AI to do the rule calculations. This document is the guide to the competition, and the specific rules.
What do you win?
A medal will be provided to the top three winners. Winners will be based solely on total points, and in the event of a tie a vibe coded random spinner will be built by Eric and that will be used to determine the winner in a recorded video.
Please don’t make Eric vibe code your victory. Win and win in an unquestioning way.
Teams?
AI is your team.
Competition calendar (end-to-end)
Prep window (now → kickoff)
Thu Feb 5–Sun Feb 8
Week 1 theme: data visualization and interactions
Submission Template will be posted later on this substack
Kickoff post goes live: Mon Feb 9 @ 8:00 AM CT
Weekly cadence (same every week)
Theme drops: Monday 8:00 AM CT
Build window: Mon 8:00 AM → Sun 11:59 PM
Submission deadline: Sunday 11:59 PM CT
Scoreboard update: Monday 12:00 PM CT
Slacker board + coffee debts declared: Monday 12:05 PM CT
1) Format: 5 Weeks, Weekly Theme
Each week has a theme (posted at the start of the week). You can build one app or multiple apps in a week.
Bonus points are available for:
Operating inside the theme (+10 points)
Referencing another competitor’s work (+10 points)
More on bonus points below.
2) What Counts as “Delivery”
A “delivery” means you published something that week on at least one channel (see scoring), and you shared it with me for scoring.
If you do not deliver in a given week:
You owe everyone in the group a coffee
You get added to the Slacker Board for that week
No drama. Just accountability. Maybe a lot of name calling.
3) Content Rules (Reuse Allowed)
You’re allowed (encouraged) to reuse content across channels.
One build can become: a LinkedIn post + a blog post + a Substack write-up + a YouTube walkthrough.
You can also create multiple pieces of content about the same app, especially on YouTube (example: “overview” + “how it works” + “lessons learned”).
Minimum YouTube video length: 5 minutes
No maximum length
4) Scoring: Base Points by Channel
Points are awarded per published piece of content:
LinkedIn post: 5 points
YouTube video (≥ 5 minutes): 15 points
Personal blog post: 2 points
Substack post: 2 points
You can publish on multiple channels and earn points on each. Points multiply by what you ship. Ship 2 apps and post 2 LinkedIn posts? Well, that’s 20 points!
5) App / Code Multiplier (Important)
Your content points get multiplied based on how you share the build:
No public release of code: 0 × (score is nullified for that build/content)
Public repo (base): 1×
Hosted app + public repo: 2×
Notes:
“Public repo” means the code is publicly accessible (GitHub, etc.).
“Hosted app” means someone can actually use it (deployed web app, runnable demo, live endpoint, etc.). It can be a discord bot, or phone agent, etc.
If you post content but keep the code private, it doesn’t count (0×). When picking projects, please ensure it’s something you can post publicly. It doesn’t need to be all the code if it’s wrapped inside a larger system-it can just be a gist, too. The point is to build out a github profile with code during this competition.
6) Bonus Points
You can stack these on top:
+10 points if you reference any competitor’s post, video, app, or code
Examples: shout-out, link, reaction post, “I borrowed this idea from…”, comparison video, etc.
+10 points if your build clearly operates inside the week’s theme
Theme alignment needs to be obvious in your write-up/video.
Bonus points are awarded once per relevant item where it’s clear and specific (not drive-by name drops).
7) Multiple Apps Per Week
Yes, you can build multiple apps in one week.
Scoring is cumulative across all builds and content that week, subject to the code multiplier rule.
8) Winner
At the end of the competition, the winner is simply:
Whoever has the most points.
No judges. No vibes. Just points.
9) Submission + Scoring Workflow
To make scoring clean and to maximize cross-channel visibility:
Every time you publish something, send it to me (link(s))
I’ll coordinate scoring and make sure everyone is seeing each other’s work
If it’s not shared, it won’t be scored. (Not trying to be strict — just trying to keep it fair and trackable.)
10) The Spirit of the Game
This is a reps competition: ship in public, learn fast, and build momentum. While Eric reserves the right to tweak the rules of this competition, it is likely he will not as he is busy.
If you’re unsure whether something counts, publish it, share it, and we’ll score it consistently.
Let’s go.
DETAILED RULES
The point is to break comfort zones.
YOUTUBE
YouTube (15 pts) ONLY COUNTS if:
Your channel MUST have either your FIRST or LAST name in the channel name.
It can be an existing channel, but encourage new channel.
Minimum length: 5 minutes
Picture-in-picture is required for the full video — your camera must be visible on-screen the entire time (no “intro only,” no hiding behind screen share)
Screen share is allowed/encouraged, but PiP stays on
If PiP drops out for more than a single digit percentage of the total video at any point → the video scores 0
If you have a technical failure, re-upload a corrected cut before the weekly deadline, just let me know. Technology is great when it works.
SCORE MULTIPLIERS!
GitHub / Repo Requirements (to qualify for 1× or 2×)
To earn any multiplier credit (1× public repo, 2× hosted+repo), the repo must meet all requirements below:
Public repo required
Private repos do not qualify (and will score 0 for that build).
README required
The repo must include a
README.mdat the root with:What it is (1–2 sentences)
How to run it (basic setup steps)
Link to the live app (if hosted)
Forks allowed, but must be meaningfully modified
Forked repos are okay, but you must make meaningful changes (features, workflow, UX, data source, docs, etc.).
Pure re-skins, config-only changes, or “ran the tutorial unchanged” may be scored as 0× at organizer discretion.
Screenshot required
The repo must include at least one screenshot of the app and what it does.
Include it in the README (recommended), and/or store it in
/screenshotsor/assets.
If any of the above is missing, that build’s repo is treated as non-qualifying for multipliers.
Hosting Bonus (2× Multiplier)
A build earns the 2× score multiplier when both are true:
The app has a public GitHub repo that meets the repo requirements (public + README + meaningful changes if fork + screenshot).
The app is hosted online with a publicly accessible URL (anyone in the group can open it without special access).
What do these words mean?
“Hosted” means it runs in a browser or as a public endpoint (e.g., Vercel/Netlify/Render/Fly.io/etc.).
If the app requires a login, provide test credentials or a guest link; otherwise it’s not considered publicly accessible for scoring.
The hosted URL must be included in the README.
Remember!
If the app is hosted but the repo is missing requirements → it does not qualify for 2×.